#dreaming

Olgar shakes his head at the edge of the trod.

ANd glances to the wilder girl next to him

"So, you want to go trod hopping, not just to get somewhere, but to 'see' what the Dreaming is like?"

His tone is ..dubious.

"I've been waiting a yeeeaaaarrrr."

"How can I know if I want to be a Rover if everything I know about the Dreaming is secondhand?"

"Well, you took that trip to the farm recently, but then it's so secure it's almost a hiccup" He says "You understand that even trained rovers go missing, get dead or worse right?"

"Yeah... but how do they become trained Rovers?"

"Point" He says and rubs his jaw "Okay. First rule. Stay on the Silver. Second rule, what I say goes. Third rule, I don't care how strong you are I Will use my dream craft to flush you out of the Dreaming whether you like it or not if you ignore rule one or two? Got it?"

She tips a salute. "Sure."

"Good enough. Follow." He steps onto the silver of a trod that is not one she's ever seen before.

And vanishes before her eyes

She frowns, and... steps on the same silver?

And she does... and... finds herself in a wooded glen where the leaves are alive, but the color of shadow, and the bark is silver.

Ahead of her, Olgar looks back and nods "Watch your feet, see that silver patch work of roots that doesn't seem connected to any tree exactly? that's is the trod. It doesn't always look like brick or cobble stone"

"Right.. wouldn't make sense to have brick here."

"Well, sense and the dreaming aren't always friends, but dreams do tend ot have themes to them. Sometimes a Rover has to realize what kind of dreams have shaped the area. Near Dreaming tends to match the world we know... but I've shown you a part with a bit more uniqueness"

"It's pretty."

"Yup. It is... mind you the colors lean Ailil and Eiluned but what can you do? " He says moving along amaking sure she is not dawdling

She is not. "Well, black and silver could just be cool on their own and not a house thing."

"I mean, shit, imagine if Gwydion claimed everything green and gold? There goes summer."

"you sure they haven't?" Wryly "How the Gwyd lessons going?"

"Hmph. Okay, I guess."

"Okay?"

"Yeah?" Shrug. "I'm not really good at being all... mega-good..."

"ha" he says "No one is. "

"I dunno, have you seen the Chief?"

"She's all, like, 'you've done good stuff,' but, like, how much good stuff do you have to do to make you good?"

"Even the chief isn't always good... she's got her flaws and failings. I'm not one to praise Frank too often, but at times he's the one keeping her from making mistakes"

"Making a mistake is different from being bad, though."

"Yeah true... but she can be selfish now and then, even be unfair. She always tries to correct it. But ..here's the thing, even if SHE is Mega Good.... why do you act like you have to be mega good just to be a Gwydion? She's one of their best, that's something to aim for, but not something that is a realistic bare minimum. "

As he talks they move through the wood... and she notices about fifteen feet away, a duplicate of flyswatter! It could be its twin

"Because.. I mean.. Gwydion are supposed to be good?"

"Like... like the best..." A frown, and she reaches to check the halberd on her back.

It's there.

"That's a funny trick."

"Well, in my experience every house claims to be the best. But Gwydions are definitely honorable, and try very hard to be just. They do have some of the best warriors, and ..if you are into the noble scene? Best rulers. Think King Arthur on a really good day."

"And yeah, that's a duplicate to trick you off the trod. " He nods "So that tree can eat you"

"But I mean, they're the good guys. Knights in shining armor, and, like Arthur and Lancelot and Superman good."

"That tree is a jerk."

"But Gwydion wasn't. Like, the founder guy. He did bad stuff."

"I heard the story" he says "He either snuck his cousin into a castle for yucks not knowing his cousin would go that far, or was a flat out asshole rapist himself... of course, that was berfore even the sidhe became a little human. Not saying it makes it right, but there are troll related dreams, our great grand mammas, that are said not to have defended, but sometimes crushed, or kidnapped or eatten people. Frankly, I'm kind of glad Gwydion started out as a dick."

"Glad?"

"Yup. Because perfect people don't understand why others can't always resist temptation. People who never ever did bad don't always understand that you can be better. They didn't need a second chance, so why should you? Folks who 'always good' have a hard time comprehending those who at best 'try' to be good...and those who 'try' are the majority. Show me a leader who was always good, I'll show you someone not suited to leading 90% of the population."

"But what if I'm not good enough?"

"What's good enough? Perfection? No one is. Do you have to be good over half the time? 75%? 9 out of ten? 99 out of a 100? Look, life is a challenge, a series of challenges, but utlimately the one you need to compete against mostly is yourself, the you were before. If you improve in one way or another just a little each day, if you're a little kinder than you were, wiser than you were, braver than you were and so on? You're winning at life in the only way you can really keep score that matters. "

"oh that's hilarious.." He gestures "Now the tree's trying to tempt you with treasure... lazy thing" A chest full of gold has appeared

A snort of amusement at the tree.

"I sort of worry... I mean, I know, you ain't got a house... but like... I feel a little bit like a fraud? Sure, I'd like to be Dame Dagmar, but I don't... don't know if I've done much to earn it? This time round."

"Ah" he nods "I hear you. But remember most sidhe didn't earn it in this life and they seem pretty confident they deserve it. Sides, you know damn well that say..superheroes, don't live easy lives. You're asking what did I do to deserve this like you got a prize. Some might ask 'what did I do to deserve THIS' like they just got stuck with designated driver for life. If you don't think you've earned it, keep working your ass off and being good until you do..by then, it might be habit. It's not worth beating yourself up about whether something is deserved or not when it's meant to be used. Flyswatter, do you deserve it? it's a fine weapon"